Empires of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750-1850

by Hoock, Holger

• ISBN13: 9781861978592
• ISBN10: 1861978596
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-17
• Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist

Summary

Between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, Britain evolved from a substantial international power yet relative artistic backwater into a global superpower and a leading cultural force in Europe. In this original and wide-ranging book, Hoock illuminates the manifold ways in which the culture of power and the power of culture were interwoven in this period of dramatic change. Britons invested artistic and imaginative effort to come to terms with the loss of the American colonies; to sustain the generation-long fight against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France; and to assert and legitimate their growing empire in India. Demonstrating how Britain fought international culture wars over prize antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East, the book explores how Britons appropriated ancient cultures from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and India, and casts a fresh eye on iconic objects such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles.

Table of Contents

Maps	p. x
Preface	p. xvi
Abbreviations	p. xxii
List of Plates and Illustrations	p. xxiv
Introduction: Sinews of Power and Empires of the Imagination	p. 1
Abu Taleb in London, 1800	p. 1
Concepts and Arguments	p. 11
Themes: Politicisation, Commemoration, Collecting	p. 20
Prelude. London, Autumn 1761: The King Shall Rejoice	p. 23
War, Art, and Commemoration (c.1750-1815)
America	p. 39
Nationalising a Site of Memory	p. 40
A Civil and a Global War	p. 45
The Art of Remembering and Forgetting	p. 48
Melted Majesty	p. 49
Compensatory Triumphalism	p. 57
Undaunted Briton or Sentimental Spy?	p. 60
Damage Control	p. 67
Private Grief and Pride	p. 71
'There will scarcely be a village in England without some American dust in it'	p. 75
Conclusions	p. 81
Transatlantic Journeys	p. 83
Janus-Faced Patriots: Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley	p. 85
Pragmatic Loyalists? Ralph Earl and Mather Brown	p. 97
British Radicals: James Barry and Robert Edge Pine	p. 100
'The peaceful muse outweighs political warfare': Charles Willson Peale	p. 104
'To his country he gave his sword and his pencil': John Trumbull	p. 109
Conclusions	p. 115
Interlude. London, Spring and Summer 1784	p. 117
Britain, Europe, Empire	p. 131
'Pretensions to Permanency'	p. 132
A Temple of British Fame	p. 132
The Politics of Glory	p. 144
Partisan Immortality	p. 147
Who's Allowed to be a Hero?	p. 151
Modern Heroes	p. 162
Naked Captains	p. 163
Bodily Sacrifice	p. 169
Christian Warriors	p. 172
Codes of Masculinity	p. 179
'The conquering hero comes - Dead! Dead!'	p. 184
Coda: Imperial Sites of Memory	p. 188
Empire, Archaeology, and Collecting (c.1760-c.1850)
The Mediterranean and the Near East	p. 205
Public-Private Partnerships	p. 207
The Spoils of War	p. 219
'Memorable Trophies of National Glory'	p. 219
'Collecting-furor'	p. 223
'Friends of Greece'	p. 227
Spoliation or Preservation?	p. 231
Antique Diplomacy	p. 243
Triumph at Xanthus	p. 243
The Lion of Nineveh	p. 252
The Wonders of the World	p. 265
Conclusions	p. 269
India	p. 273
Empire, Culture, Knowledge	p. 274
The Outward Appearance of Power	p. 276
Indomania and Orientalism	p. 283
Antiquities of India	p. 288
Learned Officialdom and the Analogy of Science	p. 294
Picturesque Patriotism	p. 300
Closet Archaeologists and Pioneers in the Field	p. 306
Surveying the Empire	p. 315
The Great Mysore Survey of 1799-1809	p. 316
The Java Expedition of 1811-16	p. 324
Research Management	p. 328
Guiltless or Ruthless Spoliation?	p. 330
Outlook: The Responsibilities of Empire (c.1844-1900)	p. 342
Capital of Culture (1815-c.1850)
Pomp and Circumstance in London	p. 353
Victory and Dynasty	p. 355
The English Titian	p. 359
London Triumphant	p. 361
Art for the Nation	p. 372
Conclusions: Cultural Politics, State, War, and Empire	p. 380
Epilogue: Empires Imagined at the Great Exhibition	p. 386
Notes	p. 395
Index	p. 489
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